Kalyn Ponga's eye-opening admission amid calls to replace Reece Walsh as Origin fullback

Kalyn Ponga's return to the Origin arena didn't go to plan as Queensland failed to score a single try in the State of Origin decider, with the shield heading to NSW. Maroons fans had high hopes for Ponga to combine with star fullback Reece Walsh and put on an attacking masterclass but neither were given much space and failed to create anything of note.

Ponga, who was selected in the unfamiliar role of bench utility, was injected into the game with under half an hour to go and was deprived of any real good ball. While Queensland No.1, Walsh, had his second-straight shocker in the Origin arena as NSW won 14-4 to break their 19-year drought in deciders at Suncorp.

Altogether Walsh had an Origin series to forget after he was knocked out of Game 1 after just seven minutes. He then failed to fire in the second and third games and Queensland fans have already begun calling for Ponga to be given the fullback spot next year. The Broncos fullback's defensive frailties were on display once again in Game 3 and he failed to make up for it in attack as he didn't register any meaningful contribution.

Walsh couldn't do much to prevent the Blues from scoring their first try of Game 3 through Bradman Best but his effort on Mitchell Moses' try raised some eyebrows. Moses waltzed straight past Walsh after busting through Harry Grant and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow's tackles, with the Maroons No.1 failing to even lay a hand on the Blues halfback. And after the game Maroons fans were calling for him to be replaced by Ponga in 2025.

But Ponga is one Queenslander who doesn't want to see the Broncos star dropped next season as he believes the pair can still form a deadly partnership.“(Next time) I think if we get it done right; prepare better, obviously get the combination going a little bit more, you'd like to think that we're both a threat, so the more that we can be a threat, obviously the better," Ponga said after the match to NRL.com.

“But we didn't earn the right tonight. I would have liked to have done a better job individually myself tonight, but it lights the fire for next year."

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Kalyn Ponga and Reece Walsh to play together again

Queensland coach Billy Slater said while the dual selection of Ponga and Walsh didn’t go to plan in Game 3, he would seriously consider picking both again next year. “Why not?” Slater quipped.

“I played with Karmichael Hunt. I played alongside Darius Boyd, Kalyn’s played alongside Reece Walsh. Sometimes, you can look at the footy and you look at positions and you can go with the traditional or you can actually be innovative and think of different ways to play the game.

“I'm not saying that that's what we did, Kalyn just went on in the middle of the field, but there's all those options out there. Maybe we just don't explore them enough.

“When you've got guys like Pat Carrigan and Reuben Cotter that can play huge minutes and we took Reuben off and then were just looking for an opportunity to get him back on there. When you've got that flexibility in your team, you can have a bit of a flexible bench. That's just the way it went.

“I thought (Ponga) did a great job, he was very impressive throughout the week as well. I thought he did a great job defensively in the middle of the field, he took the line on. Would have liked to get him in a bit more space, but that wasn't to be. I think he was good.”

Walsh played as a utility on occasion when he first came into the NRL with the Warriors, when their fullback spot was held down by Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in 2021. And for next year's Origin series, the pair could realistically flip roles, with the Broncos star coming off the bench and Ponga starting at the back.